Neches Butane Products Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 15, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 1194 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

fn the Matter of NECHES BUTANE PRODUCTS COMPANY and OIL WORKERS
INTERNATIONAL UNION, C. I. O.
Case No. 16-R-1159.-Decided May 15, 1945
Mr. W. H. Hoffman, of Port Neches, Tex., for the Company.
Mr. F. H. Mitchell, of Port Arthur, Tex., and Mr. L. L. Crane, of
Port Neches, Tex., for the Union.
Mr. Thomas A. Ricci, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Oil Workers International Union,
C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Neches Butane Products Company, Port Neches, Texas, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before Earl Saunders, Trial Ex-
aminer. Said hearing was held at Beaumont, Texas, on January 31,
1945. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All
parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to ex&nine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the is-
sues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded
an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Subsequent to the hearing, the Company and the Union filed a stipu-
lation whereby a Supplemental Report on Investigation of Interest
of Labor Organization, signed by a Board Field Examiner, was made
a part of the record herein.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Neches Butane Products Company, a Delaware corporation, operates
a plant at Port Neches, Texas, where it is engaged in the production
61 N. L. R. B., No. 195.
1194
NECHES BUTANE PRODUCTS COMPANY 1195
of butadiene, an ingredient of synthetic rubber. The Company obtains
its principal raw material, butylene, from nearby refineries of the Pure
Oil Company, the Gulf Refining Company, the Socony Vacuum Com-
pany, the Atlantic Refining Company, and the Texas Company.
Butylene is a byproduct of the refining of petroleum which the latter
companies receive from Texas, Louisiana, and adjacent States. The
Company delivers its product by pipe line to nearby plants of the
Goodrich and the Firestone Companies. Most of the rubber produced
by these companies is transported in interstate commerce as directed
by the Rubber Reserve Corporation.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Oil Workers International Union, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until
the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence subsequent
to the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial num-
ber of employees in the unit alleged to be appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union requests a unit of all laboratory employees in the Com-
pany's Port Neches plant, excluding clerical, managerial, and super-
visory employees, and those employees presently included in bargaining
units for which the Board has previously certified collective bargaining
representatives. Thus, the Union would include shift foremen,
analytical chemists and podbielniak operators, and would exclude
the following employees : (1) the chief chemist, the assistant chief
chemist and three foremen, as supervisory employees; (2) a tester,
tester helpers, tester trainees and laborers, who are presently included
' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 43 membership application cards,
that the names of 38 persons appearing on said cards were listed on the Company's pay
roll for the period ending December 15, 1944, which contained the names of 59 employees
in the unit alleged to be appropriate by the Union ; and that 30 of the Company's 39
podbielniak operators and 7 of the Company's 19 analytical chemists had signed such cards.
1196 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in a production and maintenance unit which is covered by a contract
between the Company and the Union; and (3) a pipe fitter, who is part
of a craft unit now represented by the United'Association of Journey-
men, Plumbers, and Steamfitters, A. F. L. The foregoing classifica-
tions include all the Company's laboratory employees. The Company
agrees to the unit as requested except that it would exclude shift fore-
men as supervisory and analytical chemists as professional employees.
Analytical chemists and podbielniak operators comprise almost the
entire staff of the Company's Laboratory Department, which is divided
into 3 laboratories, the analytical laboratory in one building, and the
infra-red and podbielniak laboratories in an adjacent building. The
chief chemist and the assistant chief chemist supervise the entire
department, a foreman is in charge of each laboratory during the day
shift, and there are also shift foremen, each of whom works one shift
throughout the 3 laboratories. There were at the time of the hearing
approximately 16 analytical chemists, most of whom work in the
analytical laboratory, and about 35 podbielniak operators, of whom 30
work in the infra-red and podbielniak laboratories, and 5 in the
analytical laboratory. Both groups are salaried, and, except for 8
chemists who work straight day shifts, all are shift employees who, in
.rotation, staff the laboratories 24 hours daily.
The chemists make routine chemical analyses, such as gravimetric
determinations, impurity specifications of butadiene and determina-
tions of acidities and alkalinities. The straight day chemists, in addi-
tion to routine tests, perform more difficult analyses under a foreman's
supervision, but as a group they do not possess greater knowledge or
ability than the other chemists. The podbielniak operators are so
named because they operate podbielniak machines, used to analyze light
hydro-carbon and liquefied petroleum gases by low temperature distil-
lations. Among the chemists, whose salaries are higher than those
of podbielniak operators, are 12 college graduates. Solely because of
the manpower shortage the Company has waived its requirement of a
college degree for podbielniak operators, and consequently only 5 of
the present employees in that group are college graduates. Signifi-
cantly, the 5 podbielniak operators in the analytical laboratory work
with analytical chemists and perform similar work. Under these cir-
cumstances, we do not believe that the interests of analytical chemists
differ from those of podbielniak operators to an extent requiring the
former's exclusion.
We turn now to the dispute between the parties concerning shift
foremen, whom the Company would exclude as supervisory employees.
Each of the laboratories of the Laboratory Department has a foreman
who works days only. In addition, during each shift there is a shift
foreman who repairs testing apparatus and generally keeps a check
NECHES BUTANE PRODUCTS COMPANY 1197
on various testing operations that are being conducted in all three
laboratories. These shift foremen work on rotating shifts. During
the day shift, they devote a considerable portion of their time to routine
testing work and do very little supervising. During the evening and
night shifts, as well as on Sundays and holidays, however, shift fore-
men are responsible for the employees as well as the work performed
and report directly to the night superintendent. The record indicates
that, at least in the absence of the day foreman, shift foremen have the
power to recommend disciplinary action as well as the hiring of other
employees, and that the Company would give serious consideration to
their recommendations. Their salary range is higher than that of
either the analytical chemists or the podbielniak operators. In view
of the foregoing facts, we are of the opinion that shift foremen are
supervisory employees within the meaning of our usual definition of
the term and we shall, therefore, exclude them.
The Union would exclude one Charles H. Clark, an analytical chem-
ist, on the ground that he is a supervisory employee. The record dis-
closes that he performs the same work as other analytical chemists
and has no supervisory authority. We shall include him in the unit.2
We find that all laboratory employees at the Company's Port Neches
plant, including analytical chemists,-' but excluding the tester, tester
helpers, tester trainees, laborers, the pipe fitter, shift foremen, foremen,
the assistant chief chemist, the chief chemist, and all other supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recom-
mend such action, constitutes a unit appropriate for the purpose of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ,ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9'(c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as' Amended, it is hereby
2 During the hearing there seemed to be a further dispute between the parties concerning
one R. N Edgar. He is an analytical chemist who also does general laboratory repair
work and glass blowing. The record discloses no reason to exclude him.
8 Including Clark and Edgar.
639678-45-vol. 61-77
1198 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Neches Butane
Products Company, Port Neches, Texas, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article Ill, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section
IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on
vacation or temporarily laid off and including employees in the armed
forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the
polls, but excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the
election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
Oil Workers International Union, C. I. 0., for the purposes of
collective bargaining.